High roller Vadim Trincher sues for $6 million over mildew damages at Trump Tower condo

Vadim Trincher and his wife, Elena, believe the mold came from an upstairs rehab of a duplex. (Roberts, Matthew,,freelance)

High-rolling businessman and professional poker player Vadim Trincher knows when to hold and when to fold, but he says there's never a good time for mold.

According to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday, Trincher and his wife, Elena , are seeking $6 million for mildew-related damages to their lavish 63rd-floor Trump Tower condo at 721 Fifth Ave. They claim those damages stem from the gut rehab of an upstairs duplex that was once owned by Bruce Willis and Demi Moore .

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Trincher's lawyer, Alexander Shapiro , says the trouble began last Oct. 17, when his clients' maid went to clean a closet in the guest room and discovered 3 inches of water and lots of mold. Shapiro said experts later told them that even though there was no smell, the mold had been growing for weeks. They estimated the leak started a month earlier as the result of a broken valve in a duplex bathroom on the 64th floor. The leak was severe enough that the contractor who was working upstairs reported a problem to building managers on Oct. 14, according to court papers.

The mold ruined custom-made, silk-covered wall panels in the guest room and living room. Shapiro said the fabric was specially designed for the couple and is irreplaceable. The lawsuit pegs an estimate value for the walls at $5 million. It says the water also ruined "an extremely rare silk carpet" worth $150,000.

Elena Trincher claims that mold was also responsible for making her ill with a respiratory condition. According to the News' Barbara Ross , these conditions also caused the Trinchers to cancel a fundraiser for Newt Gingrich 's presidential campaign that they'd hoped to host last year.

The Trinchers' suit is being filed against their condominium association and contractor Hunter Roberts Construction. Tha association had no comment. Neither Trincher nor Hunter Roberts returned our request for comment.

The Trinchers purchased the three-bedroom, 3,000-plus square-foot unit for $5 million in May 2009. A little more than a month earlier, he had won a $731,000 tournament at Foxwoods. The unit's asking price was said to be $1 million higher, but apparently the Trinchers called the seller's bluff.

TIME WAS ON HIS SIDE

Writer Malcolm Gladwell admitted at the New Yorker Festival party at Andaz 5th Avenue that being named one of Time magazine's "Most Influential" people in 2005 "was nice," but he calls it a "depreciating asset." According to Gladwell, "They've called so many other people important in the ensuing five or six years that the distinction is becoming smaller by the day. They declare 100 people important every year, they're 15 years in. They have 1,500 important people." (In all fairness, Time has only had 14 such lists.) Also attending the party were Sarah Silverman , the band Vampire Weekend and Vanity Fair party writer Bennett Marcus .

BEN THERE, HEARD THAT

On Saturday, Ben Stiller screened a clip from "Tropic Thunder," where a film producer played by Tom Cruise decides it'll be good for ticket sales if an actor dies while making a movie. Stiller told an audience at the Directors Guild Theater that the scene is "not so satiric." According to him, "It's maybe one notch up. I think the way people talk about talent and creative people in those [producers'] rooms isn't so far off from that." The Q&A session was hosted by New Yorker writer Tad Friend.

CHRISTY, WEIGH TO GO!

Even "momshell" Christy Turlington Burns needed help losing her post-baby pounds. "For the two years that I was doing Tracy's [workout] exclusively, I had muscles!" Turlington Burns told Confidenti@l at celeb trainer Tracy Anderson 's Pregnancy Project bash at Le Bain. "I had never had that before." Turlington Burns and her hubby, director Ed Burns , also have a 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. Fellow Anderson acolytes Gwyneth Paltrow and Molly Sims stopped by, too.

Jay Z's Life & Times via YouTube

Jay-Z and Beyonce wave to the crowd at the end of his concert at the Barclay Center Saturday night.

JAY-Z'S HIP-HOP HURRAH

Jay-Z and Beyonce wave to the packed house at the end of his Saturday night concert at the Barclay Center. (Jay Z's Life & Times via YouTube)

Jay-Z didn't rest after his eighth straight show at the Barclays Center. The rapper bounced from Brooklyn to Chelsea's 1Oak with a 30-person entourage, which included Beyoncé, Leonardo DiCaprio and Usher , according to partygoers on the scene. The massive crew drank D'usse cognac until 4 a.m. 1Oak may want to keep Jay-Z's post-show party table open - fellow Brooklyn singer Barbra Streisand rolls into Barclays Center this week for Thursday and Saturday night performances. Holla!

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Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

Lindsay Lohan out on the town recently.

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LOHAN GOES LOW-KEY

In what's becoming news, Lindsay Lohan hit the town this weekend, but no arrests were made. At Saturday's Day & Night brunch party at the Highline Ballroom, a spy says, "Everyone [was] raging to techno and she [was] painting her nails at her table." Later that night, Lohan went to 1Oak nightclub where no problems were reported.

SHE'S ALEC'S SPIN DOCTOR

Friends of Alec Baldwin have been jabbering about his newly svelte figure, and it looks like he's got his wife, Hilaria , to thank. "I got him into yoga and spinning classes, as well as better nutrition," the fitness guru told Confidenti@l at a lawn party during the Hamptons Film Festival. But the only exercise Baldwin got Saturday night was carrying Hilaria's pair of high heels for her.

READY TO 'RACE' AGAIN

Harlem Globetrotter Nathaniel (Big Easy) Lofton wants another shot. Before Sunday's game at Barclays Center, Lofton told the News' Joanna Molloy that he and teammate Herbert (Flight Time) Lang, who came in second place in season 18 of "The Amazing Race" last year, want to go for No. 1. "It's the most real show on TV, and it's a blast," he said, while signing autographs. "And we never argued. It's good to show the kids how to compete without fighting."